William Bailey Lamar (June 12, 1853 – September 26, 1928) was an American attorney and politician who served as a U.S. representative from Florida from 1903 to 1909.^[1]

Lamar was born on June 12, 1853, in Monticello, Florida. He was a member of the Lamar family, a political family from Georgia.^[2] Lamar attended Jefferson Academy in Monticello, and later went on to attend the University of Georgia. He lived in Athens, Georgia, from 1866 until 1873, when he began attending Cumberland University's law school in Lebanon, Tennessee, graduating in 1875.^[3]

That same year, Lamar was admitted into the Mississippi Bar and began a private practice in Tupelo, Mississippi.^[3]

In 1877, Lamar returned to Florida, having been appointed clerk of the Jefferson County court, a position he held until 1881. In 1883, Lamar, a Democrat, was appointed judge of the Jefferson County court, serving until 1886, when he was elected to the Florida House of Representatives, representing Jefferson County.^[3] Lamar served as a representative until 1889, when he was appointed the 16th Florida Attorney General by newly elected Governor Francis P. Fleming.^[4]

During his long 14-year tenure as Attorney General, Lamar oversaw the industrialization and modernization of the formerly agrarian Florida economy.^[5] However, Lamar ensured that Florida would remain segregated, as he turned a blind eye while his subordinates instituted laws banning blacks from entire towns.^[6]

Lamar died on September 26, 1928, at his winter home in Thomasville, Georgia. He is buried in Athens' Oconee Hill Cemetery.

Lamar married Ethel Healey on June 8, 1904, though they did not have children.^[13]